Math

Problem Statement

For this problem we were given a sheet containing lots of shapes. Within the shapes were patterns that needed to be found. Our three tasks for this worksheet was to label the numbers, find any patterns, and What "36" would look like.

The Process

We started off by talking as a group on any patterns that we found. A pattern my group and I noticed which led us to finding what "36" would look like it noticing how after the 4th shape if you continue to add 4, it would create a shape that contained squares. Considering 36 is a multiple of 4 it led us to believe that 36 would be a shape containing squares.

Other Students Solution

The next day Kirby switched up the tables which allowed me to hear other students solutions on this problem. One of my partners during this problem with Niki. She shared a very interesting solution to the problem. She noticed that every 6 objects had a similar shape. This is important because if you do this pattern 6 times it will eventually hit 36, which means 36 could possibly be the shape of the pattern that was found.

Solution

We were still not given the solution to this problem. Although we were not given the correct solution yet I still believe that the class as a whole worked very hard to come up with our solutions!

Assessment of the Problem

At first when I received this problem I had no idea where to start. Once I started talking about it with my first group and we all combined our idea it all started to make a lot more sense. I did not like this problem at first because of how confused I was but now I think this problem is very unique and I am very curious on what the correct solution is! Throughout this problem I learned that there is so much more in a problem if you really look into it. If you do not look into patterns and such in this problem it is just a lot of random shapes. I am very happy with both of the groups that I worked with in this problem. It was so important to work together on this problem because it would be difficult to figure it out by yourself. It was awesome to see the different perspectives other people saw on this problem and at the end opened me up to different solutions as well.S

Self Evaluation

I think that I did well on this problem considering when I first saw the shapes I had no idea where to start. Once I began to work in a group and we all shared our ideas, everything began to make more sense. I think I worked well on this problem because even if I thought my method was incorrect I felt comfortable sharing it with my groupmates and it allowed them to help me and make it better. A quality I grew in throughout this problem is questioning. I asked my group a lot of questions because some of their methods were very confusing. Asking questions is a very important process when doing math because something might make sense to some people and can be very confusing to others.

This method is explaining a pattern my group and I found. It shows that every 4 objects contains a square. Considering every 4 patterns has a square that means "36" would be an object that contains squares.